Meet the 2013 Petties Grant $10K winner: Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary

Alana Miller (left) and a friend are greeted by the news that Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary won the 2013 Petties $10,000 Grant.

Nestled in the small town of St. Pauls in North Carolina, is a place for some very special cats — a lifetime sanctuary for felines who all have one thing in common.

They are all blind.

Welcome to the Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary, winner of the 2013 Petties Grant $10,000 prize. Each year the Petties let readers submit the name of a non-profit rescue or shelter in need, and for 2013, by a wide margin, BCRS got the most votes.

“I did not get my first cat until I was in my 30s,” Alana Miller, BCRS director, says. “I spent seven years volunteering in all capacities with a local animal shelter.

“I started [Blind Cat Rescue] in 2005 because there were just no resources for blind cats back then, and I had a blind cat,” Miller says. “In North Carolina, the law states an animal who is blind, sick, or injured can be immediately euthanized and I am sure many are.”

Eight years, and countless 13-plus hour workdays later, BCRS currently has 97 felines at the facility, and to date approximately 156 felines have gone through its doors. BCRS also plays a contributing role in the online community, as its Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, Inc. Facebook page has posted and helped save hundreds of cats with various ailments — such as blindness, FIV, and Leukemia.

Miller dispels some misconceptions about blind cats, including keeping your furniture in the same place and remembering that keeping a mindset the animals are handicapped. “Neither is true,” she says. “A blind cat has no clue they are blind; they know they are cats and they act like cats. We have cats who race up climbers and run on our giant cat wheels,” among other activities.

The BCRS operates without government funding and relies solely on donations. With the high cost of medical and dental care each cat receives via yearly exams, Miller says the Petties Grant prize will go a long way to help with those expenses.